Urinal with intermittent flushing set in action by the user&#39;s weight



Sept. 28, 1937. ca. u. TRAVAGLIATI 2,094,310

TTENT FLUSHING SET IN ACTION BY THE USER S WEIGHT URlNAL WITH INTERMI Filed March 9, 1936 will! .l

Patented Sept. 28, 1937 UNITED STATES .URINAL WITH INTERMITTENT FLUSHING SET IN ACTION BY THE USERSWEIGHT Giuseppe Ugo Travagliati, Verona, ltaly Application March 9, 1936, Serial No; 67,989 In Italy March 9, 1935 a i 4 Claims. (01. 4'-108) It is common knowledge that in the types of urinals at present in use, and especially those open tothe public, the waste of water due to the continuous flushing of the installation leads to considerable expense which has to be borne by the municipality. v

The present invention has been specially designed to obviate the above mentioneddefect, whilst being, of practical and economical con- 0 struction." f

" It is an object of the present invention to provide a urinal having a unit for flushing the same when in use, said unit comprising a valve adapted to control the admission of flushing water to the ,15 urinal, a pivotable foot-plate, and a lever system between the foot-plate and said valve and adapted to transmit a movement of the footplate under the action of the weight, whole or partial, of a user to said valve to open the latter, said valve 0 and lever system being disposed wholly below the footplate. i It is also an object of the invention to provide a urinal adapted to be flushed under the action of the total or partial weight of a person using the sameqcomprising an oscillating footplate pivoted to a fixed frame, one or more rocking levers adaptedto' move about its fulcrum or their fulcrum's in accordance with the displacements of the footplate, and an admission valve interposed between the conduit from the main and the 'fiushing head and adapted for opening or closing in response to the rocking of said levers, whereby water is admitted to the urinal only during the period that the latter is in use.

A further object is to provide aurinal adapted to be fiushed intermittently under the action of the total or-partial weight of a user, comprising a fixed frame having pivoted thereto a footplate which is adapted to oscillate underthe action of it) the total or partial weight of a user standing thereon, rocking levers mounted in said frame and beneath the footplate, one or more plungers adapted to transmit the movement of said footplateto the rocking levers, and a valve con- 45 trolling the admission of flushing water to the urinal, said valve being connected to the rocking levers through a further system of levers and being arranged to open and close in response to the movement of these rocking levers.

50 The attached drawing shows, in a purely representative and not definitely binding manner, one form of practical realization of the present invention.

It will be of course understoodthat changes 55 may be made in the constructive details, the

form, the materials employed, the dimensions and the arrangement of the accessory parts in order to allowof different practical applications of the invention, without departing from the spirit of the invention. A Fig. 1 is an outside side view ofthe urinal with the attachment fitted.

Fig. 2 is an enlargedpartial plan view. Fig. 3 is a cross section along the line XX of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan view seen from above the metal frame containing the working parts. Fig. 5 represents a longitudinal section through the valve system. f The urinal shown in the drawing consists-of ,15

the usual backing l and front portion I', these parts being'made of glazed brick, cement, porcelain or othersuitable material. The part I' is recessedibelow the floor level to receive a unit controlling the supply of water to the fiushinggo head.

This unit consists of a metal frame 2 within which are mounted two parallel rocking levers 4,.4 on bearings 3, 3'. These bearingsare ar- ,ranged'nearer the front end of the levers 4, 4"25 than the rear and the latter are synchronized with one another, being connected by a cross bar I6 towards their rear ends. At these rear ends the rocking levers 4, l carry a further cross bar Figures 1 and 3 illustrates the direction in which the front end of the footplate 1 moves when a 35 person steps thereon. In the flushing control unit is also provided a pair of plungers 6, 6 on :which the'footplate is adapted to bear when a person is standing on the latter, and which fit into corresponding sockets in the levers 4, 4'. Mounted on across-piece l9 inthe frame 2 is a ball valve '9} which is shown on an enlarged scale in Figure 5. A piston 20 works in the valve 9 and is connected at its upper end by a lever ill I a fixed part 22 of the frame 2. At its mid-point this lever I 0 is attached to the cross-bar l6 by a line H3. The valve 9 is directly interposed in the conduit between the street or other supply main II and the pipe I2 to the flushing head.

The operation of the device is as follows: When a user steps upon the footplate 1 the latter pivots about the points 8 in the direction of arrow l8 so as'to depress the plungers 6, 6'.

The latter bear against the sockets in the levers 4, 4' to rock these levers on the bearings 3, 3 I

against the counterweight 5, so as to lift the cross bar [6. The upward movement of the latter entrains the link it, whereby the lever I is fulcrumed about the point 22 so as to raise the piston 2B. In this way the pressure on the ball of valve 9 is released and the latter is lifted from its seat by the pressure of the water in the main H, so that water flows through valve 9 and conduit 2| to the pipe 92 and the flushing head.

As soon as the user steps off the footplate I,

the pressure on the rocking levers 4, 4' is released and these resume their original position under the action of counterweight 5. Thiscauses the link it and thus the piston it to be drawn downwardly whereby the valve 9 is reclosed and the flushing of the urinal discontinued.

Advantageously a second drainage or discharge valve is provided in the conduit 2| and at the lowest point of the latter. Such a valve. has been illustrated in Figure 5 at l5. In this figure the ball l3 of the valve is mounted on an upstanding part 23 of a link 24.

Tothe conduit 2i'is rigidly attached an upstanding bar 25, at the top end of which is pivoted a rocking lever M connectedat or near its ends to the piston 26 and the bar 24 respectively. The lever i i is so arranged that when the piston is. in its lowest position, that is to say when the valve 9 is closed, the ball I3 is lifted off its seat to a greater or lesser extent by the part 23.

The valve E5 is thus wholly or partially open and, being at the lowest point in the conduit 2|, the water trapped between valve 9 and the flushing head is allowed to drain through valve l5, whereby any possibility of water freezing in the conduit 2! and bursting the latter in cold weather is avoided.

It will be seen that when the piston 20 is raised to admit water from the main H, the bar 40 24 will be correspondingly lowered by such an amount that the ball i3 contacts with its seat to seal'the valve l 5 against the escape of water.

What is claimed is: 1. The hereinbefore described urinal with in- 45 termittent flushing set in action by the total or partial Weight of the person using it, and characterized by the fact that the said weight bears on an. oscillating footplate arranged, through a suitable valve mechanism, to admit the flushing 50 water into the urinal in such a manner as to limit the admission of the water to the period of time during which the person remains on the footplate, which footplate is pivoted to a frame within which acts a system of counterbalanced rock- 55 ing levers subjected to the movement of the lat-' ter and actuated by pistons on which the footplate rests; the said system of rocking levers being destined to actuate simultaneously, through suitable levers, two valves respectively for the 60 admission and discharge of water from the street main to the urinal and for emptying.

2. The hereinbefore described urinal with iri-' termittent flushing set in action by the total or partial weight of the person using it, and characterized by the fact that the said weight bears on an oscillating footplate arranged, through a suitable valve mechanism, to admit the flushing water into the urinal in such a manner as to limit the admission of the water to the period of time during which the person remains on the footplate, which footplate is pivoted to a frame within which acts a system of counterbalanced rocking levers subjected to the movement of the latter and actuated by pistons on which the footplate rests; the said system of rocking levers being destined to actuate simultaneously, through suitable levers, two Valves respectively for the admission and discharge of water from the street main to the urinal and for emptying, the articulated levers allowing the discharge valve to close simultaneouslywith the opening of the admission valve of water to 'the urinal, whilst the first valve may be partially open or may open when the latter islcl'osed, or in other words, during the time the footplate is inactive.

3. A urinal adapted to be flushed intermittently under the action of the total or partial weight of a user, comprising a fixed frame having pivoted theretoa footplate which is adapted to oscillate under the action of the total or partial weight of a user standing thereon, rocking levers mounted in said frame and beneath the footplate, at least one plunger adapted to transmit the movement, of said footplate to the rocking levers, and a valve, controlling the admission of flushing water to the edtocontrol the admission of flushing water to the urinaLla pivotably mounted footplate, and a lever system between the footplate and. said valve andadapted to transmit a movement of the footplate under the action of the weight, whole or partial, of a user to said valve disposed wholly below the footplate, a second and discharge valve arranged in a conduit connecting the admission 'valve to the point at which the flushing water is expelled over the surface of the urinal and is adapted to be opened to discharge water from said conduit, whereby freezing up of the latter in cold weather is prevented, said discharge valve being connected to the admission valve by means of a rocking lever device and is adapted to be closed simultaneously with the opening of the dischargev valve and to be opened or partially opened as the pressure exerted by a user on the foo-tplate is relieved.

GIUSEPPE UGO TRAVA GLIATI. 

